Saturday, December 15, 2012

The below list is of RPG Related Kickstarters that were estimated to ship (I am using the ship date for the physical item, not the PDF if there is one) December 2012 or earlier. I was going to add Indiegogo projects to the list, but they are so few (and this list got so long) I'll summarize as follows: LotFP stuff that I supported over the summer has not shipped, but Indiegogo doesn't force an estimated shipping date . Barrowmaze II shipped on time!Updated 12/15/12

Colors for Actual Ship Date are as follows:

Red: Hasn't shipped and is (or will be based on new estimates) significantly overdue. This includes projects that have been shipping in dribs and drabs for months. If all backers dont have what they pledged for, it's in red.

Orange: Late but shipped, or recently missed a shipping date and hasn't shipped

Far West
Goal: $5,000 Total: $49,324 Funded: August 25, 2011
Estimated Ship Date: December, 2011 Actual Ship Date: Not Shipped (and has missed interim ship dates)Far West - last update 11/19 (almost a month ago)- updates approximately monthly - First the main / lead artist flaked out in the middle of the job (and claimed to have finished work he hadn't completed), then Gareth got sick, "Far West" as a title will now be cropping up in unrelated media, making marketing a pain I suspect - If this hits ONLY the one year late mark, I'll be impressed. Backer portraits were due about a week after the last update - haven't seen it yet nearly a month later. Cubiclde 7 has gotten involved in the process, so the new guarantee of Dec 2012 for the PDF is hopeful, I've lost fucking hope - but I'm not sold on it. Note - this project will be AT LEAST one year late.

One year+ late and still updates once a month and can't even fulfill it's later promises (such as seeing the new backer portraits - sure, maybe they are on the forums, maybe not, but update via the damn system you used to take our cash)C&C Classic MonstersGoal: $4,000 Total: $9,108 Funded: December 2, 2011Estimated Ship Date: January, 2012 Actual Ship Date: May, 2012

Quantum Roleplaying GameGoal: $13,000 Total: $47,747 Funded: December 30, 2011Estimated Ship Date: April, 2012 Actual Ship Date: Not Yet ShippedQuantum RPG - last update 12/13 - beta is now over - time to actully set the rules in stone - To be honest, I'm no longer excited about this project. I suspect when it ships it's going straight to the bookshelf. Still no new estimated completion date

Adventurer Conqueror King System Player's CompanionGoal:: $4,000 Total: $20,622 Funded: March 16, 2012Estimated Ship Date: July, 2012 Actual Ship Date: Not Yet Shipped ACKS Player's Companion - last Update 12/6 - Updates approximately twice a month. Updated ship date 1/13 -feedback from early release PDF has been applied and the contents revised - PDF released into the wilds ;)Story ForgeGoal: $12,000 Total: $21,736 Funded: March 20, 2012Estimated Ship Date: July, 2012 Actual Ship Date: July, 2012DwimmermountGoal: $10,000 Total: $48,756 Funded: April 14, 2012Estimated Ship Date: August 2012 Actual Ship Date:Not Yet Shipped (New Estimate 4/26/13 2013)Dwimmermount - Last Update 12/14 - Updates Weekly. Absolutely the best thing Travis (and James) have done is give weekly updates. In the Way Way Back, where updates were few and rumors were many, folks were getting might uppity, and with good reason. There was certainly a loss of some goodwill during the Way Way Back Times, and Travis is putting the effort in now, but things would have been so much simpler if updates had been weekly from the start, especially with the wide margin the ship date is being missed by. BTW, the Progress Graph is annoying and tells me little except to remind me of how late this project already is. Strangely enough, this seems more late that Far West even though it isnt - I suspect that is due to all of the initial hype. Oh, and the "draft" is complete.

King For a DayGoal: $800 Total: $4,844 Funded: May 1, 2012Estimated Ship Date: September 2012 Actual Ship Date: Not Yet Shipped (new estimate - December 2012) No F'n idea.King For a Day - Last update 12/15- Updates Approximately twice a month. Jim has learned that being joking about your project's lateness while announcing your new Kickstarter isn't the way to keep your supporters happy. Late is late. Notice this post and the amount of red?

Artisan DiceGoal: $300 Total: $91,542 Funded: April 7, 2012Estimated Ship Date: April, 2012 Actual Ship date: May, 2012 and still ongoing completed now I do believe - this suffered from overwhelming response. If you are going to be late, let it be because you have too many customers ;)Adventures Dark & DeepGoal: $2,500 Total: $7,459 Funded: April 15, 2012Estimated Ship Date: July, 2012 Actual Ship Date: Shipped September, 2012 - I was only in at the PDF level, but congrats for hitting the ship date ;)

Myth & Magic Player's GuideGoal: $5,000 Total: $24,076 Funded: May 7, 2012Estimated Ship Date: August 2012 Actual Ship Date: Not Yet ShippedMyth & Magic Player's Guide - Last update on 9/29 was in relation to it's sister project. PDF released to the wild, no hard copies yet. Last update related to this project was 9/21, about 6 weeks ago. Not the way to remain in contact with your customers. TWO MONTHS NO UPDATES! Maybe it shipped - I have no clueAppendix NGoal: $1,000 Total: $18,893 Funded: July2, 2012Estimated Ship Date: July, 2012 Actual Ship Date: Not Yet Shipped (New Estimate Late SeptemberNovember December ? 2012 Pick a card, any card...)Appendix N - Last Update 11/29 - Updates about once a week - Brave Halfling is like your cousin who is always late to appointments - whether it's a Kickstarter or a pre-order, the quality has so far been excellent, the timeliness has been poor. PDF versions of the releases look to be on time or close to it going forward - physical products is going to be a wait n see in my opinion.

Champions of Zed - last update 11/5 - once this project started running late, the updates stopped. Maybe there is info at the forums, but is it too much to ask for an update via Kickstarter every two weeks? 2 months between updates, but project is now in layout. No new estimates completion date. Someone remind me why I backed this project... I seem to recall someone is working on getting this out the door, but I can't find the link.

Tabletop Forge - Updates approximately every 2 weeks - last update 12/11. Its software. Software doesn't play nice. Updated software looks to be a huge improvement. Process is slow with some members of the original team flaking out. I may need to actually spend an hour toying with Roll20 at some point, as it seems to be much further along.

Race To Adventure - Last update 11/14 -Updates about once a month - Board Game - Blame the delays on European vacations. No, really -"wouldn't you know it, August turns out to be a time when a lot of folks in our field are off on a vacation. But we're not talking about GenCon here -- we're talking about Europe, where we're going to be having the game manufactured. This sort of nations-wide month long vacation is super, uh, foreign to USA-based folks like us, so we simply had no idea it was coming." BTW, why bother linking digital expansions for us to download when we don't even have the core product yet? It's almost like pouring salt in the wounds.

Swords & Wizardry - Last update December 12, 2012. Updates 3 times a months or so. It just went past due date. My guess? Dec 12 / Jan 13 (there were some missing pages in the PDF, so fixing the PDF means delaying the ship - January at earliest)

There's a crapload of RED now.

If I missed any I'll post them, then add here for the next update.

Just as a quick note, Spears of the Dawn is on track to possibly ship MONTHS early.

4 comments:

orient express is the product that made most CoC keepers i know quit buying everything chaosiuam - i kept the train stuff and npc book and chucked the adventure - too clive barker, too many monsters in plot - real world myths like baba yaga and triple goddess stuff that didnt feel Cthulhu - i am still following your kick starter posts for what not to do when i get one going next year - i will create something to be modest and attainable first and work from there

@Jeremy - much of the Minor Magiks were meant to be published at some point, probably slightly revised - some of the art was even completed - but I'm not sure where the project stands now, and I'm not the publisher.

I'd much rather put it up on RPGNow than on Kickstarter if I was the one worrying about the day to day.

That being said, ask me again in 3 1/2 years, as I'll be eligible for retirement (but not yet eligible for ARP membership) and may have the time on my ands to do it right.

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 46, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)